Citizens Group Offers Views On Coal Plant

Concerns On Taxes, Emissions Raised

June 11, 2002|By PATRICK LYNCH Daily Press

ISLE OF WIGHT — A coal-fired power plant near the town of Windsor would produce roughly $3 to $5 million in tax money each year for Isle of Wight, the county's economic development director said Monday.

Patrick J. Small said he and county officials based the estimate on the best knowledge they had of how the plant would be built, the county's current tax rates and the kind of tax breaks the plant would get for using pollution-reducing equipment.

The county is still waiting on a report from Duke Energy North America, the company that wants to build the 700-megawatt plant by 2008, on how the plant would affect the county's economy. Small gave his estimate during a question-and-answer session Monday night with the Isle of Wight Citizens Association.

The tax money figure is important not only to county officials, but also to people who are concerned about paying for schools and other services as Isle of Wight's population grows. The handful of residential developments now planned for the county and the town of Smithfield would bring thousands of new people to the county in the next few years.

Members of the Citizens Association peppered Small with as many environmental questions as anything else, but continued to come back to the tax issue.

Grace Keen, president of the association, said the group has not decided whether to support the plant. The group appointed a small committee to follow the issue, and possibly try to tour a similar plant elsewhere in the state.

Keen and others said they thought the plant could be a good thing for Isle of Wight.

"We have to think about revenue for Isle of Wight County," Keen said. "We need to think about this seriously, with an open mind. But Isle of Wight is in dire straits as far as revenue is concerned."

Duke Energy North America's plan to build the plant, on a 1,600-acre property now owned by Norfolk Southern, is one of about 20 new power plant proposals in Virginia right now. But it is one of only two that would be fired by coal, and the other, planned by LS Power Associates in Sussex County, may not be built. Natural gas would fire the other plants.

Small said Duke Energy representatives still plan on holding several town hall meetings this summer to answer questions, possibly as early as July. The company has yet to file any permits for the plant, which would cost $800 million to build.

Patrick Lynch can be reached at 357-4138 or by e-mail at plynch@dailypress.com